There is often a need to provide secure communication between people. One example is the communication between a prisoner and a visitor such as the prisoner's attorney or relative. Traditionally, these interactions have occurred in person with the participants divided by a barrier such as glass in an area secured by guards. However, in person visitations have several drawbacks. First, there is always the potential that in person communications can lead to the transfer of contraband. This can, of course, lead to further problems in the prison. Second, monitoring in person communications is time consuming and labor intensive. Guards must be ever vigilant to stop the passing of contraband, such as weapons or drugs, between the participants to the conversation. This leads to additional expenses. Third, there are times when the participants to the conversation are unable to meet in person. For example, the participants may be geographically separated making it difficult or impossible to have in person conversations. This is especially true with the recent move to privatize prisons. This has resulted in prisoners serving their sentences in different states from where they were sentenced. Thus, relatives, lawyers and others may not be able to communicate with the prisoner.
These drawbacks have lead to the development of different ways to allow for remote communications between individuals. One way to provide the communication is by the use of a video conference system. In a typical video conference systems each party is provided with a camera, a microphone, a speaker and a video screen. The first party's images and speech are transmitted to the screen and speaker of the second party, and vice versa. In this manner the conversations can occur with the participants located anywhere.
The challenge in providing a video conference system for use by inmates is providing a video conference system that cannot be easily damaged by the user. The components of the video conference system must be enclosed in a secure enclosure. This is especially true in the case of a video conference system for use by inmates in a prison. The enclosures must be able to withstand physical abuse by an upset and violent inmate. Also, the enclosure must be designed to be difficult to disassemble by an inmate, in order to prevent an inmate from tampering with or damaging the equipment inside. The enclosure also must be free of sharp edges with which a prisoner could injure themselves or others. The enclosure also needs to be impervious to bodily fluids, which might be poured, thrown, or otherwise introduced onto the enclosure. Such fluids could cause a short circuit of electronics inside. Additionally, present enclosures are difficult to assemble and typically require an assembly team to install the units. What is needed is a video conference system enclosure that is able to withstand physical abuse and is easy to assemble with a few number of pieces.